Vert-à-Go

One of my fondest childhood holiday memories was driving into the city after school with my parents to go late-night shopping and then finishing up at the candy counter at the Bay. We were each allowed to pick out several different kinds of candies that we would set out around the house on Christmas Eve, each in its special little dish. We had to choose carefully, because we only got to do it once a year, but there were some permanent standbys. Peppermints, macaroons, rosettes, slowpokes, butter mints, chocolate-covered raisins and peanuts, chocolate buds, butter mints, After 8s, willow crisps…it was almost better than Halloween! (we graciously let the grownups keep the boring old unshelled nuts and wield the scary silver nutcracker themselves.)

I still enjoy having extra treats around the house at Christmas time as an adult. But what about the dark side of the chocolate trade, which exploits cocoa bean farmers and plantation workers (many of whom are children working in slavery?) Fair trade rules for cocoa bean production prohibit child labour, increase the amount of money paid to farmers, and encourage safer and more environmentally sustainable farming methods. And you can rest assure that there are plenty of ethically-produced (and locally-available) goodies to satisfy your seasonal sweet tooth.

10,000 Villages is a good starting point (not only for edibles but also for beautiful fair trade Christmas decorations and gifts)–there, you can pick up Divine fair trade chocolate-covered mint wafers (After 8-style), as well as charming chocolate advent calendars (the calendars are also available at Turning the Tide Bookstore). 10,000 Villages also carries Amazon Flame’s chocolate-covered brazil nuts (both milk and dark). You can also perk yourself up in festive fashion with Just Us holiday blend coffee, described as “robust and mellow with a hint of spice”.

Cocoa Camino has a wonderful range of large fair trade chocolate bars in various flavours (bittersweet, milk, dark, espresso, orange, white with cocoa nibs, moccachino, almond, and mint). One of my favourite quick and easy desserts is broken-up chocolate bars piled on a plate with fruit (thank you, Nigel Slater!). These would be fabulous for that. You can also get semi-sweet chocolate chips and cocoa powder for your baking, as well as hot chocolate mix (both dark and regular). Cocoa Camino products are available at a number of stores, including Dad’s Nutrition Centre, Herbs and Health, and Steep Hill Co-op (these stores carry other fair trade chocolate bar brands as well, including Endangered Species Chocolate).

You can also buy Cocoa Camino chocolate and cocoa from Nancy Allan, who runs a home-based fair trade business called Just Delights (call her on 664-6071). Nancy carries a wide variety of other fair trade products, including coffees and teas, and is often seen with all of them on display at her booth at information fairs throughout the year (like Seedy Saturday and World Food Day). She had a Christmas open house yesterday, where I picked up a couple of chocolate bars. Of course, yesterday was Buy Nothing Day, but having already decided that vegetables from the farmers’ market couldn’t possibly count, I went one further and decided that fair trade goodies didn’t count either!

You can also pick up chocolate cherry almond bark (made with local sour cherries) from Wayne and Clare Pearson at Prairie Sun Orchard (call 242-7573 or email prairiesunorchard@sasktel.net). They have a stall at the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market on Saturdays, where they also sell their stupendous ice cream. The cherry swirl, cherry chocolate, and raspberry flavours (again, made with their own fruit) are all divine.

The quintessential holiday treat, of course, is the candy cane, and you will be happy to know that you can get wonderful ones from Pure Fun (available at Dad’s Nutrition Centre). Pure Fun’s candy canes are made from organic evaporated cane jucie, organic brown rice syrup, organic fruit juice, and natural peppermint oil. They are really delicious and I (and my kids) highly recommend them. Now, if only I could convince myself that they won’t all surreptitiously disappear off the tree before the 25th!

The Chinese melamine poisoning scandal caused a lot of people to take a closer look at their Halloween candy this year. I suspect that a lot of candy labelled ‘Made in China’ was simply thrown away by nervous parents after their kids brought it home. I know that I culled a fair amount of my kids’ treats–some because it was made in China and didn’t have any ingredients listed, some because it was overwhelmingly composed of corn syrup and modified palm oil. Other stuff got axed because it was just too ridiculously sugary for little kids (such as…tubes of powdered sugar). I didn’t really fancy dealing with a squishy-style bender, and preschoolers aren’t known for the thoroughness of their toothbrushing technique (besides, I just really fancied those Twizzlers).

But health considerations aside, there are other reasons that we need to look twice at that mound of brightly-wrapped chocolate. Most cocoa beans (from which chocolate is made) are grown by farmers and plantation workers who live in dire poverty and often suffer appalling working conditions. Over 100,000 of those workers are children–and most of them are working against their will.

The US Department of State has estimated that more than 109,000 children in Cote d’Ivoire’s cocoa industry work under “the worst forms of child labor,” and that some 10,000 or more are victims of human trafficking or enslavement. These child workers labor for long, punishing hours, using dangerous tools and facing frequent exposure to dangerous pesticides as they travel great distances in the grueling heat. Those who labor as slaves must also suffer frequent beatings and other cruel treatment.

–“The Cocoa Protocol: Success or Failure?”, June 2008, International Labour Rights Forum

Although the cocoa industry agreed to abolish child labour seven years ago, little or no improvement has been made. Cocoa companies promised to make their cocoa “child labour-free” by 2005, and when they completely missed that target, promised to

make 50% of farms child labour-free by 2008. That hasn’t happened either. In the meantime, tens of thousands of children and their families suffer in grinding poverty–earning only about 1 cent from the dollar or so we pay for a chocolate bar.

So what can we do to help the children who are the victims of the international cocoa trade, especially at this prime candy-buying time of year?

• Buy fair trade chocolate. Certified fair trade chocolate production prohibits child labour, increases the amount of money paid to farmers, and encourages safer and more environmentally sustainable farming methods. I bought mini Cocoa Camino chocolates to give away to trick-or-treaters this year. Try 10,000 Villages, Steep Hill Co-op, Herbs and Health, or Just Delights (664-6071).

• Go Reverse Trick-or-Treating. This Global Exchange campaign sets kids up with samples of free trade chocolate and postcards detailing the benefits of buying fairly traded chocolate, which they can hand out as they make their rounds. It’s a great chance to sweetly introduce people to the concept of fair trade!

• Think homemade (if and where possible). Homemade treats have mostly gone the way of the dodo bird, due to fear of tampering by unknown nutters. But you could still give out your great popcorn balls or cookies to the kids and parents you know well. It’s a sad state of affairs when people are so afraid of their own neighbours that they won’t let their kid eat a home-made treat from someone they see every day, but will let them scarf all the trans-fat laden, non-identifiable mystery-ingredient junk they can stomach. Maybe you could make it a personal challenge to get to know as many of the families on your block as you can and break down that distrust–a summer block party can be a great way to get people to open up to their neighbours.

• Try alternatives to chocolate. When I was a kid, we used to get apples. How delightfully retro! We weren’t always overjoyed, but we still ate them. This year I gave out little boxes of raisins along with the chocolate. You could also try something like Pure Fun candies–organic, kosher, vegan, fair trade candies made in Canada and the USA. They make lollipops, as well as individually wrapped sweets. Dad’s and Nutters carry their products–ask them to bring in the Halloween pack! There’s also peanuts in the shell (I wouldn’t hand these out unless there is a parent right there to say it was ok, in case of allergies), fruit leather, chips, pretzels, savoury snacks, juice boxes, applesauce/fruit cups…

• Politely pester retailers to carry fair trade candy. Stores won’t bring it in unless enough people ask them for it. So ask for it! We need to create alternatives to the mainstream chocolate and candy trade so that they know what they should be doing when their customers abandon them for their unethical business decisions.